Edward
'Edward '''is a blue mixed-traffic engine. He runs his own branch linewith BoCo. Edward is one of the oldest engines on Sodor and is occasionally made fun of for his old age. Edward is very wise and optimistic and spreads his knowledge and encouraging attitude towards the other engines. Bio In the twelfth season episode, Steady Eddie, he was given a task of taking the new water wheel to Great Waterton, but ignored the Fat Controller's advice to take the express track, and took all the bumpy tracks, and almost had the water wheel scrapped. In the thirteenth season, he wanted to help Thomas chase after the Fat Controller's grandchildrens' kite. Since then, Edward has tried to regain his usual self, which one day made Charlie think he was too old to have fun in Charlie and Eddie. Edward was upset about this so he tried to be as fun as Charlie, but this only caused even more trouble. Since then he has just stuck to being the wise and kind engine that he was of old. In the eighteenth season, he was still being teased by Gordon, who thought he was unreliable for breaking down frequently, but Edward claimed that he had not broken down in ages. When Gordon later got stuck on his hill, Edward came to push him. But when they reached the top of the hill, Gordon just carried on without saying "thank you". Edward complained about Gordon's ungratefulness to Thomas, who came up with a plan. Thomas challenged Gordon to a race across the island, but just as Gordon was about to catch up, Thomas pulled onto the same track which meant Gordon had no choice but to follow him. At Gordon's Hill, the two engines were going so slowly that Gordon had no choice but to stop and got stuck again. As Thomas carried on his way, Edward arrived. This time, it was Edward's turn to call Gordon unreliable for always getting stuck. Edward then began to carry on his way too, but Gordon begged him to help and promised to never called him unreliable again. So Edward forgave Gordon and gave him a push, and the big blue engine even said "thank you" once they had reached the top of the hill. In Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure, he tells Thomas, who is being mended at the Steamworks, that Rocky had discovered a pirate ship in the cavern in which Thomas had fell into earlier (despite Thomas discovered it first). Salty later tells him, Henry, and James about a "lost pirate". Persona Edward is kindhearted and always keen to help a friend in need. The small engines trust him to lend a listening ear and sympathetic advice. He is a hard worker too, and always does his best to finish a job. Sadly, the big engines often see Edward as old-fashioned and slow. While it is true he is the oldest engine on the North Western Railway - it must be noted he helped build it - he has proved time and time again that he is more than capable of working as hard as any engine, but he is a more clever and wiser engine, too. Since The Great Festival Adventure, Edward's persona changed slightly. Despite his reputation of being kind and friendly, Edward has acted cheeky. Edward also acted with a lack of confidence in himself in that he keeps secrets from the other engines and the Fat Controller, when he was once leaking steam and likewise when he was told to pull the post train whilst Percy was being repaired. Sometimes, Edward even shared the same personality as James, such as when he decided to show off his special waterwheel and laughed at Thomas when he was wearing a funny funnel. However, since the seventeenth season, Edward has been portrayed with his original personality. Basis The Reverend W. Awdry stated that Edward is based on a heavily modified Sharp, Stewart and Co. "Larger Seagull" K2 Class, supplied to the Furness Railway in 1896. Sodor "historian" Martin Clutterbuck notes that Edward bears a close resemblance to an LNER D3/4 "Glen" (NBR Reid Class K) 4-4-0 from the London and North Eastern Railway. At any rate, the Reverend W. Awdry used an engine of this class to represent Edward on his model railway. Visible Crovan's Gate Works modifications are: making the rear splasher flush with the cab, new cab windows as opposed to cutaways in his cab side sheets, and square cab lookouts as opposed to the original round ones. Livery Edward is painted NWR blue with the NWR red and yellow lining and the number "2" painted on his tender sides in bright yellow with a red border. In the Railway Series, he carries two builder's plates on the sides of his cab. It can be assumed that, before arriving on Sodor, Edward was painted in the Furness Railway's Indian Red livery with the letters "FR" written in yellow on his tender sides and black wheels. Inspiration The inspiration for Edward himself came from the Reverend W. Awdry's watching trains on the Great Western Railway as a child. He said in an interview with Brian Sibley for The Thomas the Tank Engine Man that, to him, the noise of the locomotives' exhaust almost sounded like dialogue - for example, the larger engine having trouble climbing the hills would appear to be saying, "I can't do it, I can't do it" and the smaller engine helping them would sound like it was saying, "I will do it! I will do it! I will do it!" Later, Reverend Awdry told his son a bedtime story about an engine who was sad because he was never taken out of the shed for being old. Upon being asked what the engine's name was by his son, the Reverend Awdry picked the name Edward out of thin air. Appearances * Season 12 - Thomas and the Billboard (''cameo), Steady Eddie, Henry Gets It Wrong, Heave Ho Thomas! (cameo), Toby's Special Surprise (cameo), James Works it Out, Tram Trouble (cameo), andPercy and the Bandstand (does not speak) * Season 13 - The Lion of Sodor, Tickled Pink (cameo), Double Trouble, Slippy Sodor, Play Time, Time For a Story (cameo), Percy's Parcel, Toby's New Whistle (cameo), A Blooming Mess, Thomas and the Runaway Kite, Steamy Sodor (cameo), The Biggest Present of All, Snow Tracks (cameo), andHiro Helps Out * Season 14 - Thomas' Tall Friend, James in the Dark, Charlie and Eddie, Toby and the Whistling Woods (cameo), Diesel's Special Delivery (cameo), Pop Goes Thomas (cameo), Victor Says Yes,Being Percy (cameo), Thomas' Crazy Day (cameo), Jumping Jobi Wood!, Thomas and Scruff(cameo), O the Indignity (cameo), and Henry's Magic Box (does not speak) * Season 15 - Percy's New Friends (cameo), Edward the Hero, Up, Up and Away! (cameo), Let it Snow(cameo), Surprise, Surprise, Spencer the Grand (cameo), Stuck on You (cameo), Kevin the Steamie(cameo), Wonky Whistle (cameo), Percy the Snowman (cameo), and Fiery Flynn * Season 16 - Express Coming Through (cameo), Percy and the Monster of Brendam, Ho Ho Snowman, Flash Bang Wallop!, Bust My Buffers! (cameo), Thomas and the Sounds of Sodor (does not speak), Salty's Surprise, Sodor Surprise Day (cameo), Emily's Winter Party Special (cameo),Muddy Matters (cameo), Whiff's Wish, and Happy Birthday Sir! * Season 17 - Kevin's Cranky Friend (cameo), Scruff's Makeover (cameo), Calm Down Caitlin (cameo),Steamie Stafford (cameo), The Phantom Express (cameo), No Snow for Thomas, Santa's Little Engine (cameo), The Missing Christmas Decorations, The Frozen Turntable, Away From the Sea(cameo), Gone Fishing (mentioned), The Smelly Kipper (cameo), No More Mr. Nice Engine, andThomas' Shortcut * Season 18 - Old Reliable Edward, Flatbeds of Fear (cameo), Signals Crossed (cameo), Toad's Adventure (cameo), Duck in the Water (cameo), Duck and the Slip Coaches, Thomas and the Emergency Cable (cameo), No Steam Without Coal (cameo), Spencer's VIP, Last Train for Christmasand The Perfect Gift (cameo) * Season 19 - Who's Geoffrey? (cameo), The Truth About Toby, Lost Property (cameo), Henry Spots Trouble (cameo), A Cranky Christmas, The Beast of Sodor, Toad and the Whale (cameo), Diesel's Ghostly Christmas, Very Important Sheep (cameo), Salty All at Sea, Helping Hiro (cameo), Reds vs. Blues (does not speak), Best Engine Ever (cameo), The Little Engine Who Raced Ahead and Philip to the Rescue Specials: * Hero of the Rails * Misty Island Rescue * Day of the Diesels * Blue Mountain Mystery * King of the Railway * Tale of the Brave * The Adventure Begins * Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure * The Great Race * Journey Beyond Sodor * Big World! Big Adventures! Voice Actors * Keith Wickham (UK; Hero of the Rails onwards) * William Hope (US; Hero of the Rails onwards) * Yasuhiro Takato (Japan; Pop goes Thomas) * Nozomu Sasaki (Japan; Pop goes Thomas) * Øyvind Borgemoen Lyse (Norway; Hero of the Rails onwards) * Herman López (Latin America; Hero of the Rails onwards; except Tale of the Brave) * Christos Topulos (Germany) * Wojciech Chorąży (Poland; Hero of the Rails onwards) * Fabrice Trojani (France and French speaking Canada) * Petteri Hynönen (Finland; Hero of the Rails onwards) * Reinder van der Naalt (The Netherlands) * Celso Alves (Brazil; Hero of the Rails onwards) Trivia * Edward was the very first character created for the Railway Series, in 1943. * In Saved from Scrap, it was revealed that Edward's driver was named Charlie. * Edward is the only engine whose crew has been named in the Railway Series. In the foreword of"Edward the Blue Engine"''' their names were given as Charlie Sand (driver) and Sidney Hever (fireman). Their surnames came from their duties (one of the driver's jobs is to sand the rails when they are slippery to let the engine's wheels grip, while the fireman "heaves" coal to the firebox); their Christian names came from an engine crew from the Wisbech and Upwell Tramway. * Two of Edward's models are currently on display; one at Drayton Manor along with his happy, clenched and tired face casts, And the other is in Japan at the Hara Railway Museum (previously on display at Nitrogen Studios). * Edward was not in any known draft of Thomas and the Magic Railroad. According to Phil Fehrle , there was not enough screen time and opportunity to utilise him in a way that added any real value to the film. * According to Britt Allcroft, there was a suggestion that Edward should become female and be renamed to "Alice" in the US dub. * In Steady Eddie and Charlie and Eddie, Edward refers to himself as "Eddie". Charlie also refers to him by this name. "Eddie" also happens to be Edward's real name in the Greek narration. * In the television series, Edward went through numerous changes: ** Season 6: *** His safety valve disappeared. ** Season 10: *** The riveting on his front bufferbeam disappeared. *** His buffers were moved downward and widened in length. ** Hero of the Rails: *** His buffers became bigger and moved towards the centre of his bufferbeam. ** Season 17: *** He gained a lamp and tail lamp at the request of Sam Wilkinson. ** Season 18: *** His handrails were painted black. ** The Adventure Begins: *** His handrails were painted silver again. *** The inside of his tender became blue. *** His side-rods become silver. * The 2014 re-designs of Trackmaster and Take-N-Play Edward incorrectly depict him as a 2-6-0. Gallery SteadyEddie8.png|Edward with a CGI face JamesWorksItOut30.png HeroOfTheRails15.png|Edward in full CGI DoubleTrouble20.png|Edward in the thirteenth season EdwardCGIpromo.png EdwardandThomasCGIpromo.png Edward 7.png|Edward in full CGI|link=Edward Category:Steam locomotives Category:Tender Engines Category:Boy Category:North Western Railway Category:4-4-0 Category:Edward's Branch Line Category:Steam Team Category:Male Engines Category:Television Series-only characters